


At the End of the Day

by lionheartedghost



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: 911 Week, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:21:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25153864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionheartedghost/pseuds/lionheartedghost
Summary: “Chimney?” Buck scrambles to sit up properly. The dust may have settled but visibility was poor even before the ceiling came down on them, and now he can barely see the other side of the room. “Chimney, talk to me.”Summary: The ceiling collapses on Buck and Chim during a call.Written for 911 Week Day 3: “We can do this” + hurt.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley & Howie "Chimney" Han, Maddie Buckley/Howie "Chimney" Han
Comments: 6
Kudos: 92





	At the End of the Day

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 911 Week on Tumblr. Prompt: Day 3 - "We Can Do This" + Hurt.
> 
> Originally posted on Tumblr.

The day had started out so well.  
  
Every moment from that morning still lingered in his mind like a movie, golden sunlight trickling in through a gap in the curtains and coating the bedroom in warm light.  
  
Chim had already been up and dressed. He’d leant forwards to study himself in the mirror, grinning at Maddie when he caught sight of her watching him in the reflection.  
  
“Good morning, sunshine,” he’d teased, laughing as she rolled over to bury her face in the pillow.  
  
She’d mumbled something indistinguishable. He’d laughed again.  
  
“It’s early,” he’d said, sitting down on the edge of the bed so he could lean over and kiss the top of her head. “Go back to sleep. I’ll see you tonight.”  
  
“Wait.” She’d turned over suddenly, reached for him, pulled him into a hug as he kissed her cheek. He’d rested a hand on her baby bump, the cotton of her t-shirt soft beneath his fingertips. “Have a good day,” she’d said. “Be safe. I love you.”  
  
“Love you too.” He’d grinned again as he left the room, pausing to theatrically blow a kiss in her direction. She’d pretended to catch it as he’d closed the door behind him.  
  
Everything about it had felt like home.  
  
Now, looking up at the fire on the upper floors of the hotel they’ve been called to, Chim can’t help but remember that feeling. He holds it in his mind like it’s a safety net.  
  
He and Hen have been stationed a little way from the building in something of a makeshift triage area, treating the walking wounded who come their way in the backs of ambulances, transporting the more seriously injured to the hospital. Bobby is further along the street directing crews to where they’re most needed, and last Chim saw them, Buck and Eddie were helping to clear the lower floors of the building. The flames haven’t reached down that far just yet, but the smoke has started to curl its way along corridors and into stairwells.  
  
He’s lost count of how many people he and Hen have treated for minor injuries when Buck and Eddie emerge from the building, dust clinging to their turnout coats. Buck’s guiding a middle-aged couple towards triage, no doubt to get checked for smoke inhalation. Eddie makes eye contact with Chim and beelines straight for him, a woman clutching anxiously at his sleeve.  
  
“This is Martha,” Eddie says when he reaches them. “She was up on the sixth floor, fell down a couple flights of stairs trying to get out. You got her?”  
  
“We’ve got her.” Hen steps forward, moving to guide the woman into the back of the ambulance.  
  
“No,” the woman pleads, grabbing at Eddie even as Hen tries to examine the wound on her head. “Please, don’t leave me.”  
  
Buck waits a few feet away from them, watching them with a hand poised over his mask ready to pull it back down over his face. He and Eddie exchange a look that makes Chim think, not for the first time, that they might be psychically linked.  
  
“Hen and Chim are our best paramedics,” Eddie says gently, taking her hand to free himself from her grip on his sleeve. “They’ll look after you.”  
  
She shakes her head. “Please. Can’t you?”  
  
Chim glances over his shoulder to where Bobby is stationed at incident command. He’s deep in conversation with another captain, directing teams he’s never so much as met with a sharp nod of his head, a wave of his hand, an order nobody would even think of questioning. He’s busy. They can’t have long before Bobby calls everyone out of the building. Eddie and Buck are waiting for orders. And hey, Chim’s been interim captain before, so he guesses it falls to him to make the call.  
  
“You stay here with her,” Chim says. “I’ll head back in with Buck for the last sweep.”  
  
“You sure?” Eddie asks like there’s any question about it, but the woman has resumed her hold on Eddie’s arm and doesn’t look ready to let go any time soon.  
  
Chim straightens his turnout coat and reaches for his mask. “Yeah, no problem. Come on, Buckaroo, let’s go.”  
  
Buck nods, pulls his mask down over his face, and lets Chim lead the way.  
  
The smoke lies thick and heavy in the air. Chim can barely see three feet ahead of him, and even with the mask on he can feel it clawing at him, trying to find a way into his lungs. It’s bitter, acrid. He can practically taste it on his tongue.  
  
“We cleared the first floor already.” Buck’s voice is muffled by the mask, but he’s close enough that Chim can just make out the words. “And someone else cleared the second. We were gonna take the third floor, help out the guys from the 35th.”  
  
“Sounds like a plan.”  
  
They find the stairs, both pressing a hand to the wall as they climb. The firefighters from the 35th almost walk into them as they step out from the stairwell.  
  
“East corridor’s clear,” one of them says. “Haven’t done a second sweep of the west, but Davies is low on oxygen.”  
  
“We’ve got it,” Chim tells them. He can’t see Buck behind him, but he knows he’s nodding. “You guys head out. We’re right behind you.”  
  
They clap him on the shoulder as they pass, and then they’re gone. The door to the stairwell swings shut. The building groans. His own breathing is loud in his ears, and Chim is suddenly too aware of how alone they are.  
  
“Last sweep and out,” he tells Buck. “No hero business. No stunts.”  
  
“From me?” Buck feigns affront.  
  
Chim briefly glances at him. Even through the smoke, he catches sight of Buck’s grin.  
  
“Fire department!” Chim calls down the corridor. “Anyone here?”  
  
He takes each step carefully, listening to the creak of the floor as he puts his foot down. Behind him, Buck does the same, knocking his knuckles against closed doors before he pushes them open.  
  
“LAFD! Call out!”  
  
They’re halfway down the corridor when the ceiling above them starts to protest. The smoke is starting to thicken, ash clouding the visor of his mask, and it takes a moment of squinting through the haze to see Buck still a few paces behind him.  
  
Chim’s radio comes to life with a crackle of static. “This is Captain Nash requesting a headcount. Chimney, Buck, report.”  
  
Chim slows to a stop as he unclips his radio, letting Buck overtake him in the hallway. “Hey Cap, Chim and Buck reporting. Doing a last sweep of the third floor west corridor.”  
  
“I want you both out of there. The building’s unstable. Time’s running out.”  
  
“We’ll be right out, Cap. Last couple rooms.”  
  
“You’ve got two minutes, Chim.”  
  
“Copy.”  
  
Buck’s taken the left side of the corridor, so Chim resumes his sweep of the rooms on the right. He checks each in turn, the light pouring in from the windows turning the rooms a pale grey. They’re empty. Only one more room and he and Buck can clear out.  
  
He moves steadily to the end of the corridor, placing each step, feeling the weight of the floorboards adjusting beneath him.  
  
“Fire department,” he says again. “Call out!”  
  
Chim slows to a stop.  
  
The last door on his side is ajar.  
  
Chim glances over his shoulder, finding Buck waiting just behind him. He’s waiting for Chim to give him an order, and it almost makes Chim laugh when he remembers the Buck from three years ago who only needed the slightest reason to take an axe to a wall.  
  
Their radios come to life again. “This is Captain Nash issuing a full building evacuation. I want everybody out, _now_.”  
  
“Go,” Chim says to Buck, his attention already turned to the room in front of him. He nudges it open with his boot. “I’m right behind you.”  
  
“Are you kidding?” Buck looks at him like he’s grown another head. “I’m not leaving without you.”  
  
Chim wants to argue with him, play the seniority card, threaten to snitch to Maddie, but there isn’t time. Plus, he knows Buck would just flip the ‘snitching to Maddie’ thing right back on him.  
  
“Hello?” Chim peers through the smoke. “LAFD. Anyone here?”  
  
“I repeat,” the crackle of radio static comes again, “evacuate the building. Everybody _out_.”  
  
“Fire department!” Chim steps further into the room, Buck on his heels. “Call out!”  
  
Chim can’t hear if anyone responds. There’s a sound from above them, a terrible groaning.  
  
The ceiling comes down on top of them.

*

There’s ash and dirt and plaster dust in Buck’s mouth. He can taste it when he wakes up, the dryness of it clinging to his tongue, scratching at his throat. He spits, coughs, forces himself up onto his knees. It takes him a second to work out what’s happened, a second of waiting for the dust to settle, frowning at the rubble even as he brushes it away. There’s a dull ache in his left wrist but he ignores it, craning his neck back to stare at the hole in the ceiling above them.

It comes back to him with a start.

“Chim, you good?” He asks. Or rather, he tries. The smoke makes him retch; it takes another moment of breathing slowly through his mask before he manages to find his voice. “Chim?”

He’s met by the loudest silence he’s ever heard.

“Chimney?” Buck scrambles to sit up properly. The dust may have settled but visibility was poor even before the ceiling came down on them, and now he can barely see the other side of the room. “Chimney, talk to me.”

Buck can hear his heart beating in his ears. The sound is so loud it almost drowns out the scraping of concrete as the rubble shifts, the groan of the figure beneath it as they claw their way back to consciousness.

Buck breathes a relieved laugh. “Chim, you okay?”

Chim is quiet again. The ghost of a smile waiting on Buck’s lips fades away.

“Chim, come on, I need you to talk to me.” Buck moves forwards cautiously, testing his weight against the floor as he does. “Chim? You with me?”

More silence. Then, muffled by the mask, Chim grunts.

Buck makes it to his side, brushing away the rubble around them. “Chim, how we doing?”

Chim takes a sharp inhale of breath. There’s a moment, another groan, and then his hand is gesturing towards his chest.

“Ribs,” he manages. Buck can’t see his face but he can hear the grimace. “Couple broken, I think. Uh…” He’s quiet as he runs over each injury in his mind. “Leg, maybe? The right one. Head injury too.” Chim shifts carefully, pressing his palms against the floor as he struggles to sit up, falling back with a gasp.

“Hey, hey, easy.” Buck rests his right hand gently on Chim’s shoulder.

“You okay?” Chim asks.

“Me?” Buck forces a laughs. “I’m fine, Chim.”

“You’re bleeding.” Chim lifts his fingers carefully to his own forehead, gesturing to a spot above his left eyebrow.

Buck takes a second to touch the spot on his own face, wincing as his fingertips come back bloody.

“Don’t even worry about it.” Buck straightens his helmet to hide the wound. “I mean, I don’t need to tell you I’ve had worse.”

Chim snorts, then groans again, his hand hovering above his ribs as if he could will away the pain.

The sudden crackle of Chim’s radio makes them both start. “This is Captain Nash for Han and Buckley. Chim, Buck, come in.”

Buck carefully unclips Chim’s radio and lifts it to his face. “Cap? It’s Buck.”

Buck can almost see Bobby’s face. “Buck? Where’s Chim? Are you both okay?”

“The ceiling collapsed.” Buck looks warily up at it again. “We’re both still on the third floor. Chim’s hurt but he’s conscious.”

There’s a second of silence as Bobby processes the information. “Can you get out?”

Buck looks at Chim, Bobby’s words hanging in the air.

Chim takes as deep a breath as he dares. Then, curling his hands into fists, he gives Buck a curt nod.

“We think so, Cap.” Buck nods back. He can hear Eddie’s voice through Bobby’s radio and he can tell he’s arguing, trying to convince Bobby to let him back in to help them. But Bobby called them all out for a reason. The building’s not safe. They’ve learnt that much already. There’s no way he can send anyone back in for them.

“The main entrance still looks good but there’s no telling how long it’ll hold, Buck.”

“Got it, Cap. We’ll make it quick.”

It only takes a glance at Chim to know that they’re not going anywhere fast. He knows it. Chim knows it. He’s pretty sure Bobby knows it, too. But they don’t have any other options.

Buck clips Chim’s radio to his own belt. His seems to have stopped working, probably when the collapse knocked them to the ground, but it hardly seems important now.

“Okay, Chim,” Buck says, forcing a lightness into his voice from God knows where, “you heard Bobby. We’ve gotta get moving.”

Chim gives him a look Buck’s never seen on Chim’s face before. It looks uncomfortably close to defeat. “Then you’d better get going.”

Buck stares at him.

“I’ll slow you down, Buck,” Chim reasons. “The building could come down any second.”

“Yeah,” Buck says slowly, “which is why we’ve gotta go now.”

“Buck-”

“No. I don’t wanna hear it,” Buck cuts him off firmly. “I’m not going back to my sister, my _pregnant_ sister, and telling her that you…” Buck doesn’t want to say the words aloud. “She needs you. Your kid’s gonna need you.”

“They’ll need you too, Buck.”

“So we agree, they’ll need us both and we’re wasting time. It’s not far. We can do this.”

Chim doesn’t look like he believes him. Buck sees him weigh up whether the argument is worth it; Buck also sees the exact moment Chim realises there’s no winning it.

“We go steady,” Buck says, holding out a hand to help Chim up. “Lean on me. We’ll be out in no time.”

Chim takes Buck’s hand, steeling himself as he allows himself to be pulled up. He curls his free arm protectively around his mid-section, not daring to let go of Buck’s hand for fear of falling again. His breaths are sharp, whistling through his teeth. It makes Buck sick to listen to them, but he tries not to think about it.

“Guess I’ll have to be your crutch, huh?” Buck jokes, glancing at Chim’s right leg as he manoeuvres himself to the right side. He wraps his left arm around Chim’s shoulders, taking as much of his weight as he can. It’s only when Chim clutches at his left arm for balance that Buck remembers the pain there.

Chim looks suspiciously up at him. “Sure you’re okay?”

“Just a sprain,” Buck shakes his head. “Not even worth bragging rights.”

Chim doesn’t buy it, but he pretends to for both their sakes.

They’re slow. Painfully slow. It takes them a minute just to get from the middle of the room back out to the hallway, and even that’s enough to make sweat bead on Chim’s forehead. The hotel lobby, just a fifteen foot hallway and two flights of stairs away, suddenly seems further than any distance they’ve ever had to travel.

“You know,” Buck says as they struggle along the hallway, “Maddie’s gonna be pissed when she hears it was us that got stuck in a hotel ceiling collapse. She’s already mad it’s always one of us, and now it’s both of us.”

“Gotta… outdo you somehow,” Chim says, panting with the effort of staying upright.

“Or you could just let me be the House’s official ‘walking disaster’ and be done with it.”

“Could never… let you win… that easy.”

“Well, sorry to break it to you Chim, but I’m still winning.” By some miracle they’ve made it to the stairwell; Buck adjusts his hold on Chim and pushes the door open with his elbow. “Ladder truck and tsunami definitely beat this. You’re fine. Couple days in hospital, you probably won’t even have scars.”

Chim huffs a sound Buck thinks was meant to be a laugh.

Buck had barely noticed the two flights of stairs on the way up. Now, peering over the railings at the ground below, he feels more like they’re stood on the summit of a mountain.

Chim looks wordlessly at him.

“We can do this,” Buck insists. “Look on the bright side: at least it’s down and not up, right?”

Chim gives an exhausted half-nod. “You’re not wrong.”

Buck ducks out from under Chim’s arm, shifting him so that he can clutch at the hand rail, moving to support his other side. His wrist twinges as he wraps his arm around Chim’s waist but he pushes the pain aside again, swallowing as he stares at the steps in front of them.

“One at a time, Chim,” Buck says quietly. “Nice and steady.”

Chim doesn’t answer, but Buck watches him adjust his grip on the railing. Chim takes a breath through gritted teeth, carefully lowering himself down onto the next step. Then the next. Then the next. Buck keeps pace, achingly slow, and tries to ignore the way the building shifts and groans around them.

They push through to the landing on the second floor before Chim all but crumples against the rail, Buck’s arm around his waist the only thing holding him up.

“We’ve got to keep moving, Chim,” Buck says, an apology in his eyes as he quiets the urge to let them both sit down where they are, take a break for just _one minute_. “Come on, we’re so close to being out of here. I can already hear Bobby calling us idiots.”

“Speak for yourself,” Chim manages, and Buck can hear the hint of a smile behind the mask. His expression flickers as he meets Buck’s eyes. “Don’t suppose I… can convince you to… leave me now?”

“Not a chance,” Buck confirms. “You’re gonna be fine, Chim, but we’ve got to move.”

Chim winces as he adjusts his weight. “Then we’d better…” he grimaces as he straightens, lowering himself down onto the last flight of stairs, “get going.”

The smoke is thick, rising up to meet them as they reach the final few steps. Buck squints through the visor of his mask at the floor below, trying to discern shapes through the swirls of grey ahead. He can see Chim beside him, would know he was there from the death grip he has on Buck’s shoulder even if they suddenly lost this last modicum of visibility, and he knows somewhere in front of them is the doorway, the outside, safety and their friends and some _water_ if he’s lucky, but he can’t see it. It’s only darkness ahead. And they have no choice but to walk blindly through it.

“Just a little further,” Buck coaxes as Chim stumbles. “Come on, Chim, we’re almost there.”

There’s rumbling somewhere above them, a cascade of dust trickling from the ceiling, settling on the brim of their helmets, clinging to their turnout coats. Buck forces himself to ignore it. What else can he do?

‘Last step, Chim,” Buck says. “We’re almost out of here.” He chooses not to mention that he doesn’t have a clue which way ‘out of here’ is, that he’s worried once they’ve gone another three feet into the smoke he won’t be able to see his hand in front of his face. They could have made it this far, could be inches from the door and-

Buck pauses at the foot of the stairs. He wonders briefly if his imagination is playing tricks on him, if maybe it’s the foundations of the building groaning or a piece of debris in their path.

Except it can’t be debris. It’s moving towards them.

“Buck? Chim?”

Buck almost sobs in relief. It takes him a second to breathe, to remember how to find his voice. “Eddie?”

He can hardly see Eddie’s face, even as he closes the space between them. Eddie doesn’t waste time; he looks them both up and down once, slings Chim’s other arm over his shoulders, and starts leading them back the way he’s come.

“Cap gave me thirty seconds,” Eddie says before Buck can ask. “No further than the first floor. Thank God you’d made it that far, or I’d be getting fired for disobeying orders.”

They’re stumbling through smoke, so heavy now Buck’s sure it’s choking them even through their masks, so close, so pressing, that Buck can barely see Eddie on Chim’s other side. He can’t see the debris he keeps tripping over. He can’t see the ceiling above them.

And suddenly, all at once, the world explodes into bright light.

Buck stops in his tracks, squeezing his eyes shut against the sunlight. There are footsteps, voices, hands as someone disentangles Chim from between them. Buck takes off his helmet, tears off his mask, and lets both fall to the ground as he leans over, taking in desperate lungfuls of clean air.  
It takes Buck a minute to notice the hand on his back. He takes another breath before he straightens, turns to meet Eddie’s concerned gaze, and smiles tiredly. “Kind of a close one, huh?”

Eddie laughs in disbelief. Then, just as quickly, he frowns. He steps closer, eyes fixed on Buck’s forehead. “You okay?”

With both his mask and his helmet abandoned, and without the pressing attention of the smoke, the debris, the threat of a building falling on them any moment, Buck suddenly becomes aware of the feeling of something wet on his forehead.

“It’s nothing,” he says. He looks around suddenly, takes in the faces of firefighters he doesn’t recognise, the dozen trucks and ambulances scattered around the scene. “Where’s Chim?”

“They’re taking him to the hospital.” Eddie moves his hand to Buck’s shoulder. “Which is where you should be going too.”

Buck’s too tired to complain. He knows Bobby’s just gonna make him go anyway, and it’s getting harder to ignore the pain in his wrist, and if he’s already there, at least he can stop in and check on Chim. So Buck lets Eddie steer him through the crowd, obligingly takes a seat on the ambulance step, and all but downs the bottle of water he’s handed in one.

“Slow down,” Eddie says. “You’ll throw up.”

Buck rolls his eyes, but forces himself to stop for a moment, holding the bottle in his hands. He counts to ten in his head, slowly, then brings the bottle to his lips again.

“Hey.” Bobby takes off his helmet as he approaches them, appraising Buck carefully. “You okay?”

Buck’s already nodding, even as Bobby zeroes in on the blood still smeared across his forehead. “I’m okay, Cap. Chim got the worst of it.”

Bobby doesn’t answer for a moment. He looks to Eddie, a silent conversation passing between them that makes Buck feel more irritated than anything.

“He needs to get checked out,” Eddie says bluntly.

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t,” Buck shoots back. “I just said Chim was worse off than me.”

“Yeah, and you said you were fine with a head injury and a broken arm, so-”

“It’s not broken.” Buck looks down at his arm skeptically. “I’m pretty sure it’s just a sprain.”

“Go and get checked out,” Bobby interrupts before Eddie can reply. “We’ll meet you there later.”

Buck holds in a sigh and nods. “Copy, Cap.”

*

Chim knows Maddie’s there before he opens his eyes. He can feel her hand in his, soft and warm, grounding him to the present. He smiles, brushes his thumb against her knuckles, feels the shift as she sits up.

“Howie?”

“Mm.” Chim braces himself for the bright lights of the hospital room, but when he opens his eyes it’s pleasantly dim. There are lights on out in the hall by the nurses’ station, lights drifting in from other rooms, but his is cast in shadow. “What time is it?”

“A little after nine,” she tells him. “You’ve been in and out for the last hour. I think the others are still in the waiting room.”

“Same day?” He asks carefully.

“Same day,” she confirms.

Chim takes a moment to take stock of his injuries. His ribs are aching. His chest kind of hurts. There’s a twinge of pain in his leg, constant but not unbearable now he’s lying down.

“Broken ribs and a punctured lung,” Maddie says, almost as if she can hear his thoughts. “And a broken leg too. But you’re gonna be okay.”

Chim nods, squeezing her hand. He pauses. “Buck. Is Buck okay?”

“He’s okay,” she says, squeezing his hand in return. “A couple of stitches and a badly sprained wrist. I tried to get him to let Eddie take him home but I think he wanted to wait until he knew you were okay.”

Chim smiles tiredly. “Buck? Stubborn? Doesn’t sound like him.”

Maddie looks wordlessly at him for a second. “He told me what happened in there, Howie. That you told him to leave you behind.”

Chim glances away. “We didn’t know how long we had, Maddie. I didn’t see any good in the building coming down on top of both of us.”

“Just…” she swallows, searching for the words. “ _Please_ don’t do that again. I know it’s your job, and I know it’s Buck’s job, and sometimes things go bad, but… please promise me it won’t come to that again.”

He knows he doesn’t have any control over whether it happens again or not. She knows just as well as he does. But pointing out the facts, how little say either of them have over any of it, doesn’t do any of them any good.

“I promise.”

“Good,” Maddie manages a smile, “because I don’t want our baby to grow up without her dad.”

Chim grins back. “Her?”

Maddie shrugs. “I’ve just got a feeling.”

“Then I promise you both,” Chim says, “that I’m not going anywhere.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! If you enjoyed it, kudos and comments are always appreciated! 
> 
> I'm over on Tumblr here if you want to say hi!
> 
> Stay safe and well, everyone!


End file.
